exo-Imino to endo-iminocyclitol rearrangement. A general route to five-membered antiviral azasugars.

A facile synthesis is reported for five-membered iminocyclitols which allows for variation in stereochemistry at all the chiral centers, diverse C1- and N-substitution, and the potential for a three-component combinatorial process. The key step is inversion at the C4 stereocenter (L-lyxo sugar --> D-ribono azasugar). The exo-imino to endo-iminocyclitol process was extended to the D-lyxo and the D- and L-hexose series. Some analogues were found to be more potent than N-butyl DNJ and N-nonyl DNJ in antiviral activity.